Lily Reeves

Lily Reeves is the protagonist of When You Trap a Tiger. She is half-Korean and half-American and, when the novel begins, is on her way to Sunbeam where she, her sister Sam, and her mother Joan will be moving in with Halmoni, her grandmother. Lily is plagued by a magical tiger that seems to be following her in Sunbeam and only Halmoni believes her. She learns that the tiger wants Lily to return some of Halmoni's sad stories to her in exchange for healing her grandmother.

As Lily begins listening to the tiger's stories, she realizes that her family's stories are reflected in them, too. Lily grapples with belief in her grandmother's Korean practices and culture and her own American practices and culture. When she befriends Ricky, a boy who is able to see through her own shyness and like her for who she is, she realizes...